Large solar panel fields may comprise many hundreds or many thousands of individual solar panels. Commissioning a solar panel field requires knowing the precise position of each solar panel in the field relative to the other solar panels in the field. The solar panels must be mapped with respect to each other, so that it is known what solar panels share a circuit, are in series, in parallel and the like. Such mapping of the solar panels in a large field can be labor intensive. One way this commissioning is done is by using a bar code reader and scanning individual solar panels and their related panel monitoring devices. Scanning and mapping by hand can take a lot of time and resources.
A system for automatically commissioning a solar panel array comprises a plurality of panel monitoring devices, each panel monitoring device connected between a positive and negative terminal of a solar panel. Each panel monitoring device comprises a switching device, the switching device configurable to disconnect an output from the solar panel. The system further comprises logic configured to automatically obtain a relative position of each panel monitoring device in the system by appointing serially a series of masters from among the panel monitoring devices, each master in turn broadcasting a unique identifier and enabling its output. Each panel monitoring device listens to the masters' broadcasts and stores in memory the unique identifier and information indicating whether the panel monitoring device detected the masters' voltage. The panel monitoring devices determine their respective locations by analyzing the information broadcast by, and the voltage detected from, the masters.
A method according to the present disclosure comprises connecting the panel monitoring device to each of the plurality of solar panels; selecting a panel monitoring device to be a master; connecting the output to the solar panel associated with the master and causing the master to broadcast wirelessly a unique identifier, the broadcast receivable by panel monitoring devices in the field; logging in memory, by the panel monitoring devices that are not the master, the unique identifier broadcast by the master; measuring an output voltage of each panel monitoring device and logging in each panel monitoring device's memory whether the output voltage of that panel monitoring device is greater than a threshold voltage, the panel monitoring devices that detect an output voltage greater than a threshold voltage comprising a first combiner box group; selecting from with the first combiner box group a new master; and repeating these steps until all of the panel monitoring devices in the first combiner box group have logged information sufficient to determine what string each of the panel monitoring devices in the first combiner box group are in.